Below is an article published by Sacramento Bee:

Hmong human rights activist Vaming Xiong – who rallied thousands of Hmong protesters in Sacramento and across the nation seeking freedom for Gen. Vang Pao and 11 other defendants accused of plotting the overthrow of Laos – will be honored tonight.

More than 600 guests – including Hmong from all clans and elected officials – are expected at "Honoring One, Honoring All: A Model for Generations." The banquet will be held at 6 p.m. at the King Palace Restaurant, 5829 Stockton Blvd.

Xiong organized massive demonstrations at the Sacramento Federal Building to protest the arrest of the so-called "Laotian 11" on terrorism charges, claiming they were the victims of entrapment. The U.S. government finally dropped the charges against all defendants.

Xiong never forgot the several thousand Hmong Vietnam War veterans and their families still trapped in the jungles of Laos, where they have been hunted by the Communists.

"Those people have been waiting for over 36 years for Vang Pao," Xiong told The Bee during one of the protests. "I remember when I was trapped in the jungle from 1975 to 1979, you think Vang Pao's still coming every time there's a plane overhead. There are children of Hmong veterans who have never seen the world."

Kou T. Xiong, one of the event organizers, said that for decades Vaming Xiong, chairman of the Hmong American Adhoc Committee of Sacramento, has distinguished himself as an activist, "mobilizing thousands of people across the nation and the world seeking justice for the Hmong people being hunted in the jungles of Laos and the 12 defendants."